I am a total beginner at system building (this will be my first one) and I want to do it right and build a silent one to start off with. I have read through most of the silencing guides etc etc on spcr and have picked components almost exclusively from the spcr recommended list.I am very aware if my system makes noise, especially fan noise. I leave my computer on overnight to finish downloading files so silence is more of a requirement than a wish.

Here is what I learnt so far: removing moving parts reduces noise, hence if you can cool something passively it would be more beneficial. If i can get a system with low wattage draw then less heat generated (generally). I want this thing to be futureproof (by that i mean i dont have to scrap the case ,psu and other components if i want to add one more gpu to it or an hdd. I am also aware that I cant make it futureproof, i can only get some components that can be reused( case,heatsink(aftermarket), psu(less so)?).

Here is the components list (if you can comment on them that would be great)my overall budget is up to 600-700 ish£ for base unit, but cheaper (500 ish ) would be great if possible.

PSU-either Antec Truepower New 750W A/PFC Power Supply or OCZ OCZ700MXSP-UK 700W ModXStream Pro Power Supply or Corsair CMPSU-850AXUK Professional Series Gold 850W Power Supply . dont have a clue which one to choose , bearing in mind the last one is 140£, and, to me it doesnt have anything great to pay double for than the ocz one. According to some power supply calculators out there, i will only be using \approx 250W of power, meaning that the antec psu should be silent for most of the time?

CASE- definitely antec p280. full tower so any future build fits, and so that i can stuff a few hdd's if needed.

DVD Drive- generic dvd drive -just in case , wont be used much.network=TP-Link TL-WN781ND 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapterhdd- cant decide between 2.5 and 3.5 hdd's any suggestions on this front? 2.5 seems to be a lot quieter (any quiet, decent performance 3.5 " drives?) since getting big case will have a few hdd's anyway so low (500gb-750gb) capacity isnt a problem. also have some 2.5 hdd's around so will only need mounts for it? will also plan to run a few vm's (main os-linux, vm-windows xp/windows 7) Will place the vm on a separate hdd also.gpu - passive cooled ati 6670 . (can you crossfire these for better performance?)

Heatsink cpu===noctua nh-d14. will also undervolt the fans to make it quieter (do i need to do this with the p280?)

Can someone confirm whether the following ( from personal experience would be great) make a big difference in noise:I will remove the top fan that comes with the p280. Will undervolt the back 2 and place 1 Noctua NF-P12 - Case fan - 120 mm undervolted all to 7v.

My main use for this thing will be work based (normal office stuff, LaTeX document publishing, some programming,occasional gaming (pre 2009). Support for aes new instructions is almost required, unless it saves me a lot of money by not getting it.The backround noise in my room is roughly 23db, so something on par with that will be good, less would be absolutely brilliant. I also don't want it to sound like it is about to take off when it is at load (80-100% cpu load) either.

I am open to suggestions if you can suggest any other components (except the case, i like that case ) that may be better suited for me.Also I am under the impression that amd are much cheaper than intel. Since I am not trying to build a computer in the "best rig ever" category is amd a good choice for me? or are intels(much) more power efficient that makes it worth 150£ extra to spend on parts?

I have read up on water cooling and passive cooling , got the impression that:1-it is harder to set up /more accident prone. with passive cooling you only have convection.2-much more expensive. Since i am not using high end components i thought there is no point spending more on cooling. Also i am not going to overclock (more likely underclock) so water cooling wont really have a great impact. My ambient temps vary from about 18c to 23c over the year.

Sorry for so many questions but i dont see any other place on the net that has any answers on this. Some constructive critisism greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance

EDIT---In answer to the psu-no that is not the only ones availible, those are the ones i chose based on spcr reviews and (ocz) on price. I only need my computer to do work based tasks ( as I mentioned LaTex, matlab, excel/office/internet, maybe a vm here and there). I dont intend to use it as a gaming machine (for civ3, cod4, hitman bm, at hd res). I equally dont want to be constantly upgrading (works out more expensive buying something bad first and upgrading rather than buying something that is good in the first place).

Also , with the new amd/intel cpu's coming out (october ish?) is it worth waiting?

P.p.s all parts come from uk so they are ridiculously overpriced (170£ for an i5 for se for example) and the more expensive psus at 140£.Pretty much all I want the pc to do is handle the above tasks well and not sound like a harrier taking off when it is doing it-wont mind a very gentle hum. Yes I have heard of the 2.5 " suspending hdd's but thanks for reminding me .

My major problem at the moment is this amd vs intel battle . Yes intel are faster in almost every common task but they are more expensive, as I cant pick up an intel mobo for 65£ with sata 6 and usb3. just how good is the g530 (not benchmarks wise but real world wise)? shall i compare it to a core2duo performance or more like i5-870(?) performance? Also was going to get a 750w psu so that i dont have to change it every 2 builds (how long do they last? is it even worth investing in anything except the case?)

Thanks for your prompt responses people

Last edited by spcr99 on Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Most power calculators are beyond silly.I don't think you need more than 150W (Intel) or 200W (AMD). But that's a moot point since all mainstream power supplies offer more anyway. The best product lines tend to start around 400W. Cheap mainstream power supplies tend to be a bit noisy. But for the ridiculous price of the models you picked, you could get effectively silent ones (the nicer models have fans which only start if you put a serious load on them).

spcr99 wrote:

or are intels(much) more power efficient that makes it worth 150£ extra to spend on parts?

If you spent £150 more, you'd get a more powerful computer.I think you only need spend something like £25 more to have something that's about as good but runs a good bit cooler (but I don't know your local prices). If you don't need something very fast, you could even save cash since Intel does make cheap CPUs like the G530 which are very good value. The cheap Intels can be upgraded to much more powerful ones without changing the other components.Looking at the number of cores and the the clock speed gives you the wrong impression since AMD has a different definition of "core" and their CPUs aren't able to do the same amount of work per cycle. In the same price range, different types of computation will be faster on AMD and others wil be faster on Intel. For general usage, Intels usually perform better because common software often has sequential bottlenecks. But if you're trying to omptimize a particular computing task, AMDs could be better value.

If you want a reliable and affordable general-purpose computer, forced air cooling is the way to go.Passive cooling is more attractive for low-power computers and water cooling is more attractive for extremely powerful computers.

That CPU is not particularly efficient. I'd definitely choose an Intel CPU over the AMD. I don't know hoe powerful your CPU must be, but if we take the FX-4100 as an example, then the Noctua CPU cooler is way overkill. A Scythe Mugen 3 is much cheaper and can easily cool an FX-4100, even overclocked. And the stock fan can be controlled via the PWM-controller (to run virtually silent) that any modern motherboard has.

If the Antec, OCZ and Corsair are the only PSU's avaliable then I'd choose the Corsair AX850. I believe the fan only starts running when the system reaches a threshold.

You can suspend 2,5" drives in the 3,5" bays in the Antec P280 (if you don't know what I mean by that, then look around the forums. There are A LOT of pictures). The WD Scorpio Blue 500 GB 2,5" (WD5000LPVT) has just recently received the Editor's choice award here at SPCR.

I'm not a fan of the FX 4100. A Pentium G860 outperforms it using less power and less $'s.

Consider using an H77 motherboard and a G860. Or, bump up to an i3-2105. Or, get the G860 now and upgrade to a better CPU later if you need it.

There are all sorts of gaming benchmarks out there...don't know what you need for GPU power unless I know your monitor resolution and games. I would stay away from SLI/crossfire and just get a single card.

[quote="kuzzia"] then the Noctua CPU cooler is way overkill. A Scythe Mugen 3 is much cheaper and can easily cool an FX-4100, even overclocked. And the stock fan can be controlled via the PWM-controller (to run virtually silent) that any modern motherboard has. ]

Ye the problem is that the scythe heatsink is only 7£ cheaper than the nh-d14. Could somebody please explain to me why I would want an intel, bearing in mind i dont do any hardcore gaming or rendering. I was under the impression that intel change mobo sockets almost every year so you have to scrap the mobo if you want to upgrade every 3 years or something like that... From what i understood the amd is the budget oriented one and intel gives you the best performance for a higher price. Is ivy bridge worth buying (considering an i5 if i go intel) or sandy bridge? Also is it worth waiting (i dont have to build it now, i can wait for a couple of months.) If you could give me your views of why you went with intel (vs amd), that would be great. Also, if I am not doing any serous gaming will an ati 6670 do or shall i go for ati 7750 (both passive cooled)?

Could somebody please explain to me why I would want an intel, bearing in mind i dont do any hardcore gaming or rendering.

So what will you be doing?I've recently build two systems with Pentium G620 and Asus H61. Probably faster and cheaper while using less energy.If you're upgrading every 3 years, just upgrade all of processor, memory and motherboard. I'm sure you can make someone else happy with the previous components.If you're not gaming, just use the IGP.Waiting for the Ivy Bridge successor of the G620 (and H61) might make sense.

It will essentially be a work computer (office tasks, latex document publishing, some vm machines and some gaming (cod4 ish at hd res.) One other requierment is that it has to be quiet when operating- not to the point of quiter than an hdd, just audible over a ticking clock 1m away or something like that.

I did not know that you only need to upgrade mobo and cpu if you upgrading, i thought ram also had to go...

what about the amd apu's (a8-3870k)? since that has a decent (for my needs) card on board then i may not even need a dedicated one for a couple of years...

For some reason all the intel cpu's (at least on amazon and ebuyer) are very very expensive(90£ for cheapest mobo and 90 for cpu). Fact is that i dont know how to choose a good mobo, i just randomly click on the chipset with the higher numbers and read the specs (not the right way to do things i think). Can somebody help me in pointing out a good motherboard? also is it worth buying higher end ones? in 3 years time it will be replaced anyway (probably ) so like a 60£ one will Do?Thanks again to everyone who is helping me (total newb)

Yes intel are faster in almost every common task but they are more expensive, as I cant pick up an intel mobo for 65£ with sata 6 and usb3.

There are cheaper boards for Intel CPUs, by a large margin.

The cheapest non-crap products come out at around 65£ here... and that includes the board, the CPU and shipping! I expect prices would be a bit higher in the UK (your VAT is higher for one thing). But I think you're looking at the wrong products in the wrong place...You definitely don't need "sata 6" and I bet you don't need USB3 either. A quick look tells me these would cost you £11 or £12 extra here (or a bit less for USB3 only).

spcr99 wrote:

just how good is the g530 (not benchmarks wise but real world wise)? shall i compare it to a core2duo performance or more like i5-870(?) performance?

There's no such thing as "core2duo performance" or "i5-870".The G530 is slow by today's standards... but so is the AMD CPU you were looking at!

Bottom line: if you can't quantify your requirements properly, you won't get good advice. Garbage in, garbage out!Given what you said about your goals and budget, I'd choose a G530 with a view to upgrade it later (you wouldn't need to change the motherboard) but then again you didn't say much and you could easily need something more powerful.

spcr99 wrote:

Also was going to get a 750w psu so that i dont have to change it every 2 builds (how long do they last? is it even worth investing in anything except the case?)

Bottom line: if you can't quantify your requirements properly, you won't get good advice.

-I have outlined my requirements-office tasks, some light gaming(cod 4 at full hd and older), web , thats it. I may want an i7 but only need something that is better than t6500 (my laptop cpu). I dont want to spend lots of £££ on an i5 just to say "i got an i5 desktop". I just want it to function well in the everyday tasks that i will do (above). ok, maybe i didnt specify my needs in a clear way (never had to before) but i think i need something between an i3 and the g620 in terms of power(based on that most i5 preconfigured systems are gamer/power user based). I dont mind if things take a couple of seconds to open (thats almost always hdd bound anyway) but i dont want a slow system-again comparing to the t6500. I am comparing only because i know how my machine runs (with that cpu ) so i can judge how much better the new one will be.

Quote:

The G530 is slow by today's standards... but so is the AMD CPU you were looking at!

appreciate the reply but when you say slow -do you mean it is basically slow at everything or it is slow at gaming??? again if i rate my current system: t6500( 500gb hdd 7200rpm , ati 4570 , 4gb ram), i would call it very good in terms of speed for the tasks that i need it to do. Your opinions on speed may be different, but it would help if you could clarify on the slowness of it (g530).

Ye I am in Uk- just looked at g620 and it is 47£ (!, cheap). Oh, ok, ill need to upgrade the ram as well, missed that one. So let me get this right-basically if i get a decent z77(socket 1155) mobo and a g620 (or any intel as i now see it) it will beat all the amd processors in most of the programs that i will use-not just in power but also in efficiency (which will contribute to how quiet it will be?). That is good- a £47 cpu beating a 90+£ cpu (fx-4100 or the a8 and above, up to a point). and then if i need more power i buy a sb/ib i5 2 years down the road to fit into my mobo, or just scrap the mobo, ram ,cpu and put new ones in. Thanks very much guys-you helped me see the light so to speak. I think i will give intel a serious consideration. will the noctua nh-d14 be good for g620 (or the i5 if i choose to upgrade later). If it is overkill for the g620 does it mean that it will be pretty quiet/silent since it will be able to dissipate most of the heat without spinning up the fans too much? Will a ati 6670 run a full hd screen, possibly to play cod4(on g620?). also 8gb ram ok if i plan to run a vm ( linux in vm) or shall I go with 16gb? Also(sorry too many questions again ) I look at the supported memory list on mobo websites also- how much should i spend on the psu- i saw lots of psu's from 30£(rated at 700w) all the way to 160£(seasonics). now, obviously 30£ out of the question as they are likely poor quality and may die quickly/take rest of system with it/ be noisy. What about the seasonic fanless (x460 i think, on spcr, rated at 460W). From previous comments they say i only need about 300w ish so a 460w should be fine, or get a decent 700w one with a good warranty and then i can reuse it if i get do a major upgrade?Can you comment on the components from these links I dont see any real advantages of extreme 4 vs the pro 3. I probably wont use raid and pci 3 is a little bit useless for me as i am not planning on getting 2x 7670's anytime soon or anything like that, but am i missing something?

I don't play your kind of games so I wouldn't use a graphics card or a PSU. So I'll let others help you with that.I'll only say that 400W is definitely a lot more than you need and that the fanless Seasonics are expensive for what you get.

spcr99 wrote:

only need something that is better than t6500 (my laptop cpu).

Any mainstream Intel CPU will beat that. A G530 would be a significant upgrade, and a G620 even more so.Myself, I would get the G530 and buy a much better CPU on the used market a few years down the road. But if you don't like to upgrade CPUs or if the G530 is not available in the UK, the G620 should do. Get the G630 if you can however. It's the updated (slightly faster) model and it's cheaper here.

The main advantage of a CPU like the G530 is that it consumes little power compared to the work it can do and runs really cool. So it'll be quiet even with a fairly basic heatsink.

spcr99 wrote:

ok, maybe i didnt specify my needs in a clear way (never had to before)

Most people couldn't specify their needs to save their life. It's no big deal. Computer building mistakes are among the cheapest mistakes you can do nowadays.

spcr99 wrote:

appreciate the reply but when you say slow -do you mean it is basically slow at everything or it is slow at gaming???

Just slow by today's standards... that's more than fast enough for most people.I was only comparing it to the other CPUs on the market nowadays, not demeaning a very useful CPU. My main computer is even slower than yours.

spcr99 wrote:

a decent z77(socket 1155) mobo

That would be overkill unless you want to upgrade to a much nicer CPU down the road. I see why you said boards are expensive now...

spcr99 wrote:

and a g620 (or any intel as i now see it) it will beat all the amd processors in most of the programs that i will use-not just in power but also in efficiency (which will contribute to how quiet it will be?).

It's not nearly as simple as some people want to make it out to be unfortunately.Efficiency, yes. But there are many more powerful AMD CPUs. Some AMDs are quite good for the money for number-crunching. Even the lowly FX-4100 easily beats any of the Pentiums/Celerons at many number-crunching tasks. But AMDs aren't good across the board. Worse: they can run hot and therefore cause noise.

spcr99 wrote:

will the noctua nh-d14 be good for g620 (or the i5 if i choose to upgrade later). If it is overkill for the g620

Yes, overkill for the G620.Last time I bought a similar CPU for a build, I simply used the heatsink that came in the box. It makes way too much noise for the taste of SPCR fanatics but when it's paired with the relatively cool G620, most people wouldn't mind the noise.

spcr99 wrote:

also 8gb ram ok if i plan to run a vm ( linux in vm) or shall I go with 16gb?

My current computer has 2GB and is running 2 VMs.My general recommendation for most people with one VM would be a single 4GB stick. You can always buy a second one later.

For COD4 Modern Warfare, an HD 6670 will get you 45-50fps@ 1080p with settings at high quality. The next step up is the HD 7750 for 55-65fps. They are both ~50W max cards, the newer 7750 uses a few watts less at idle/2D. Both are available in passive versions from HIS, Sapphire, Powercolor, Asus, etc.

Processor-wise, all tasks other than gaming can be easily performed by any of the CPUs mentioned. For gaming, I'd limit the low end to the G620. As for a few pounds sterling over the G5xx, you get more cache memory.

Motherboard: Consider an H77 board. You don't need the features of the Z.

Office/Latex needs next to no CPU power, are you unhappy with the T6500's performance in those kinds of applications?

What do you mean with games like COD4? As old as CoD4 or the same genre - which could include Battlefield 3. Also, how much image quality are you willing to turn off?

If office and gaming is what you want, a Core i7 would be totally wasted on you

The G580 would be a step-up from your current system, but don't expect to notice much of it. For gaming, nothing improves performance like a better GPU. So the advice of CS_Steve is very sound. Onboard (or now on-die or IGP) graphics are currently passable - because the Xbox 360 basically froze gaming hardware requirements 7 years ago, they had time to catch up. But they still won't get you the same experience as relatively inexpensive GPUs like the Radeon 7750.

Office/Latex needs next to no CPU power, are you unhappy with the T6500's performance in those kinds of applications?

What do you mean with games like COD4?

I am not happy with the performance of my system when I have more than a couple of things going in the backround- i have skype,dropbox,google drive, steam open all at once-that makes the system sluggish-i checked-it isnt low on ram or anything. The next big reason of the change is to be able to use a bigger monitor-i am currently using my laptop with the 15" 1366x768 screen. I cant have 2 programs side by side for example. I mean that games as old as cod 4 and older (we are talking civ3 on the low end, cod4 on the "high" end). The reason i am attempting to get a desktop system is so that i can just exchange the components that need upgrading--i find it a waste that i have to scrap my entire system (laptop) just to get a better cpu and gpu. to reiterate- i am unhappy with my system performance when it is doing something (light ish) in the backround and I am also doing something(e.g running a vm or cod).

Hm, I don't know. The scenario you described with just a few background processes should not bog down a modern dual-core CPU (and your T6500 is one). The next time your system appears sluggish, open the task manager, sort the list of open applications in descending order by the CPU load and find out, if you have a rogue process. I have a suspicion that one of those processes might work the lame-ass notebook hard disk or something. Also both Chrome and Firefox tend to run amok every once in a while.

I'm not an expert on AMD, but aren't both the FX-4100 CPU and the 970 chipset without integrated graphics?In that case, I'd consider them worthless.

Get the cheapest dual-core Sandy Bridge based CPU you find, a cheap socket 1155 mainboard, a semi-passive PSU in the 500w range and then a passive Radeon 7750. Also, Noctuas are ridiculously overpriced. The Thermalright HR-02 Macho should be much cheaper and will cool a Sandy Bridge CPU passively.With this setup, one exhaust fan (for the HR-02) and one front intake supplying fresh air to the GPU should suffice and make for a very quite PC.

Hm, I don't know. The scenario you described with just a few background processes should not bog down a modern dual-core CPU (and your T6500 is one).

ye-just looked through it- it is the antivirus that wants to scan everything (avast, so shouldnt be a resourse hog). I have tried avg and avira, i find the paid ones(mcafee,norton) arent any better. any suggestions on that front?

Thanks for the advice , as I mentioned ill look into getting an intel cpu definitely-maybe even an i3/i5 (now that i know i dont have to get a 150£ z77 board for it to work). ill probably go with the 7750 (passive). The problem is that in uk (at least on amazon and ebuyer ) the heatsinks (including the hr-02 one you pointed out ) is not much cheaper (3£) than the noctua ones. Are the thermalright(hr-02) ones better anyway? are antec/seasonic good psu's? is the p280 big enough to not worry too much about number of fans, as long as i have a couple of quiet ones???

ye-just looked through it- it is the antivirus that wants to scan everything (avast, so shouldnt be a resourse hog). I have tried avg and avira, i find the paid ones(mcafee,norton) arent any better. any suggestions on that front?

Any AV scan will bog down any system if it runs on a single laptop hard drive.Solutions:-configure your AV not to run scans automatically and run scans manually when you know you're not going to be annoyed-get an AV which only scans when it sees no other processes using the resources it's going to tie up (assuming such an AV even exists)

I can't recommend an AV since I don't use any but I would start by giving a good look to Microsoft's. It's their OS, they've got the funding and they're the only ones who have a real incentive to make a genuinely unobtrusive and reliable AV.

(assuming such an AV even exists)I can't recommend an AV since I don't use any but I would start by giving a good look to Microsoft's. It's their OS, they've got the funding and they're the only ones who have a real incentive to make a genuinely unobtrusive and reliable AV.

Ye i turned it off- there is no way of stopping it scanning. Have tried the microsofts one and it isnt much better-it lets through malware and viruses more often i find. i might just start using (i have linux in a dual boot config), my linux install for web stuff since the odds of catching malware are slim(since most of it is written for windows anyway) and i got good at spotting scams that redirect you to random pages convincing you that it scanned your system or found viruses etc etc.

a bit off topic but would anybody be able to recommend a good monitor for this desktop build??? Price range is up to about 500£.at least a 23 inch. What i care about is good colour reproduction and brightness-have looked at ips panels but the cheaper ones look yellow and the tn panels are mostly ok, only some good ones. is pls (samsungs monitors) worth a look, even though they are more expensive...p.s finallising my parts list at the moment-still got mobo (h77 this time ) to find and a cheaper 500w psu.

A couple of years back I'd have bought a F2380. Awesome contrast making black easy on the eyes.This site used to be pretty good: http://www.digitalversus.com/lcd-monito ... -a899.htmlBut cheaper monitors are better value and of course the best values are on the used market.

Why such a high-capacity PSU? Did you look at the Be Quiet one I listed?

Yes, thanks for the suggestion, i did. It turns out 7£ cheaper vs the antec one (on amazon) but has no reviews (and not rated on spcr, but i might have missed that one). Thats pretty much the only reason why. The antec truepower one is a recommended on spcr so that is why i chose it. is the be quiet one comparable to antec in terms of noise???

just found one on amazon for 140£-still worth it? thanks for the link-havent visited that one before. I was also thinking about getting a cheaper ish one rather than spend much more not to get much more. Ideally a 25-27" monitor would be great but they get expensive very quickly...

Why such a high-capacity PSU? Did you look at the Be Quiet one I listed?

Yes, thanks for the suggestion, i did. It turns out 7£ cheaper vs the antec one (on amazon) but has no reviews (and not rated on spcr, but i might have missed that one). Thats pretty much the only reason why. The antec truepower one is a recommended on spcr so that is why i chose it. is the be quiet one comparable to antec in terms of noise???

Is the Antec one 80+ Gold? Don't think so. I think Be Quiet will be equal or better than the Antec.

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